The A Position

When he commissioned design of Beau Desert Golf Club, some 100 years ago, the Marquess of Anglesey lived in the ancient Hall at Beaudesert, a splendid country manor dating back to 1289 (when it was occupied by the noble Trumwyns of Cannock). Known in 13th century Latin deeds as Bellum Desertum, “beautiful wild place”, the estate was later inhabited by all manner of British peerage; ... Read more

Herbert Fowler is one of those architects whose name, curiously, isn’t readily attached to the many great golf courses he laid out and/or substantially retooled. Cruden Bay? That’s a Fowler. Royal North Devon? Fowler’s fingerprints can be found all over this west country masterpiece. Indeed, his renovation of the Old Tom Morris original (a.k.a. Westward Ho!) fairly well accounts for the superb course we know ... Read more

Recently I had an email chat with Simon Freeman, the head greenkeeper at The Machrie Golf Links, and he is extremely optimistic about the future with new owners Gavyn Davies and his wife Baroness Sue Nye at the helm. First up will be a new maintenance facility out on the golf course. The current one, which is better suited as a home for trolls not Freeman ... Read more

Rosewood Tucker's Point in Bermuda is a resort that is so brilliantly designed and so loaded with class you could conceivably go there and not mind that you were hitting the ball indifferently. Looked at another way, what you really want is for your golf game to fit appropriately with the picture-perfect surroundings. Paul Adams (pictured) and his staff can help with that. Earlier this year, Adams ... Read more

  My father and namesake, Harold G. Phillips Jr., passed away Saturday, Aug. 27, after a 15-month battle with lymphoma, and so I’ve been thinking and writing a lot about him this past week. Most of this bittersweet ruminating has nothing to do with golf, but some of it surely does. He’s the guy who introduced me to the game, taught me the game, claimed to ... Read more

Rediscovering an Old Tom Morris Classic in Scotland's Outer Hebrides   We golf fanatics love to add trophey courses to our brag and bucket lists. And while the Old Course, Pebble Beach and Banff Springs are obvious contenders, I’ve started a new list—obscure courses that most people have not even heard of.  And that is why I recently braved a narrow one-tract road about the width of ... Read more

Great to be with Peter Kessler, again, on his radio show, Making the Turn, a staple of the PGA Tour Network. It's on XM, and this aired a week back but I reckoned I'd share it with you here, under Curmudgeon guise, as a podcast. Ireland vs. Scotland is the burning question. We answer that and touch on course development in Asia, GPS in rental ... Read more

Because Ireland’s got the Irish Scotland or Ireland? Which is the better golf destination? That’s a bit like being asked to choose your favourite son. Both offer superlative golf and so much more.   I was recently asked to put my two pence into a debate, me taking the side of Ireland. And now that Rory McIlroy has captured the U.S. Open and Darren ... Read more

The last time I visited Ireland, my brother and I chaperoned the old man around the Southwest, taking in the links at Doonbeg, Lahinch, Tralee and Ballybunion. That was nearly three years ago and our timing couldn’t have been better. I don’t want to go all Jim Dodson on you, but my dad has since been diagnosed with lymphoma. He’s hanging in there, but my ... Read more

If you won your last tournament, does that make you more likely to win your next one because you’re hot? Or less likely, because two wins in a year is considered to be very good on the PGA Tour so it’s a tough feat to win two in just two starts? Those are relevant questions heading into the British Open, because four of the best ... Read more